The partners say they chose Iceland as the test market for the project because 600 contactless point of sale terminals already exist in the greater Reykjavik area, where Iceland’s population is heavily concentrated. Combined with Valitor’s established relationships with the Icelandic banks, the trial can offer the new technology to the majority of the country’s population, they explain.

The partners will work with Iceland’s mobile network operators and will begin the test with 1,000 selected participants in January 2012. A full-scale pilot is planned for the second half of 2012. Full commercial deployment is scheduled for the end of 2013.

“Iceland is one of our most successful markets,” says Visa Europe’s Fredrik Westerman. “The size of the market and high card penetration makes Iceland an ideal test environment to drive our ambition to help realise the future of payments.”